Mkt 2006 Brand Management: Report Assessment Answers

This assessment requires you to select a topic in branding:

• Brand associations – corporate social responsibility
• Brand extension
• Brand revitalisation
• Managing corporate brand reputation
• Managing brands over geographic boundaries

Write a short critical academic literature review on the topic chosen. Develop one or two brand case studies to consider brand performance and compare theory to practice in this area. Identify areas for further research and offer your own original guidelines or model in this area. 

You should begin by defining the area and including a mind-map of the key themes/authors in the literature. Your review needs to do more than discuss the views of leading writers in the area you have chosen (with a focus on journal articles, at least 10). You have to critically appraise the literature and contribute your own views, both on areas for further research and recommendations for improving brand performance.

Answer:

Introduction

The term brand revitalization is concerned with the marketing strategy that is being adopted by the companies when a particular brand reaches the maturity life cycle stage, specified in the product life cycle. This strategy is adopted when there is considerable fall in the profit margin. This strategy is undertaken for enhancing the sales of the products in the market again and gain significant amount of customers for this purpose.

The brand association is not associated with images as symbols which are associated with the brand benefit or the brands (Kim Park and Kim 2014). The brand associations are differentiation as well as acquaintances which are usually not replicable. The brand associations are synonymous with the perceived qualities of one brand which is known to the public. According to Batey (2015), the brand association can be defined as a particular way in which the customers perceive a specific brand of product when they are involved with particular activity since they are closely associated with each other”. Brand association is usually concerned with a belief which is deep rooted in the customer’s mind regarding a particular brand. Kim Park and Kim (2014) opine that the brand association can be defined as the extent to which a particular brand reminds the attributes of a “general” product category. This report would critically discuss about the literature review on brand associations- corporate social responsibility. Two case studies would be developed which consider the brand performance and the relevant theories would be considered in this domain. The areas meant for future research would be discussed and own original model would be created. A mind map concerning the key themes in the literature would be illustrated. The concluding section would include a recommendation on improving the brand performance.

Literature Review

According to Lam and Shankar (2014), the brand association is concerned with the interconnection between the consumer and the particular brand. It is more concerned with the intangible benefits associated with the brand and does not only confine to the actual benefit of the products or services. It can be positive or negative; however, every customer wants to associate themselves with a positive brand (Lam and Shankar2014). For example, the customers would want to purchase their apparels from a brand which is synonymous with superior quality and greater variety. The brands are focusing on greater degree of associations by incorporating value added features in their products or services (Christensen 2013). The brand association is highly relevant in modern marketing since a greater number of customers would imply that the company would be having more number of sales (Christensen 2013).Conversely, a negative brand image would make the company stagnant and having fewer probabilities of progression.

Need of brand revitalization

The brand revitalization is essential for different reasons such as legal issues, competition, technology, mergers, globalization, brand relevance and others.

Ways of brand revitalization

There are several ways of brand revitalization such as increasing product use, finding nee customers, entering new markets, re-positioning, augmenting products, customer involvement and others.

Brand Loyalty

According to Hollebeek Glynn and Brodie (2014), brand loyalty is defined as the typical pattern of the consumer behavior in which the customers are committed to particular brands and they engage in making repeat purchases from a single brand over a period of time (Hollebeek Glynn and Brodie 2014). The loyal customers consistently engage in the purchase of the products from their preferred brands only and they give least importance to their price or convenience (Hollebeek Glynn and Brodie 2014). The companies engage in the differential marketing tactics so that loyal customers can be retrieved by the company. The companies use different kind of techniques to capture the audiences such as incentives, trials, loyalty programs and others (Hollebeek Glynn and Brodie 2014).

As opined by Hilbig (2014), the non-compensatory model of the brand awareness is concerned with the involvement of three or more attributes in order to evaluate a particular product. The backlogs in a single attribute cannot be adjusted by the favorable attributes on another attribute and the appeal of the product remains the same. The conjunctive model under this model specifies that a consumer would prefer a particular brand if it satisfies minimum “acceptable” standards (Hilbig2014). The consumer would not purchase the product if there is one deficient attribute. This model makes the decision making easy for the consumers.

Brand Equity

As commented by Lehmann and Srinivasan (2014), the brand equity can be defined as the premium value generated by an organization when there is a comparison with the generic equivalent of the brand. The organizations engage in the brand equity by creating memories associated with the products and which makes the product easily recognizable (Hilbig2014). The products which are superior as far as reliability and quality are considered do make successful cases of brand equity (Hilbig2014). The organizations often engage in the creation of mass marketing campaigns for building permanent images in the minds of the customers.

Mizik (2014) stated that there are three basic components of the brand equity factor such as consumer perception, positive or negative effects and the resulting value. The basis of the brand equity comprises of the consumer perception (Mizik2014). This includes both the experience as well as knowledge associated with a brand and its products. The perception of the brand affects the positive or negative effects of the brand. Positive brand equity is responsible for higher financial returns (Hilbig 2014). These effects can turn into tangible or intangible value.

According to Buil De Chernatony and Martínez (2013), Keller’s Brand Equity Model, believes in the fact that in order to build a strong brand, it is important to change the perception of the customers regarding the product or services (Buil De Chernatony and Martínez (2013). The correct type of experience can make the customers harbor positive thoughts, specific thoughts, better opinions and good perceptions about the brand. Buil De Chernatony and Martínez (2013There should be fulfillment of the four individual blocks so that the brand can reach to the top and be one of the most successful brands.

Sporting Cultural events

As opined by Plewa et al. (2016), the sporting of cultural or other kind of events has their individual associations which are directly linked with the sponsoring of specific brand and fulfillment of certain conditions. They contribute to brand equity by the help of several tactics. They become associated with the brand and they help in improving the brand awareness (Plewa et al. 2016). This is due to the fact that the brands engaging in hosting sports events gain prominent attention from the public, which makes them improve their brand awareness considerably (Plewa et al. 2016). It is also concerned with the addition of the new associations from which the company would be benefitted. These kinds of events also help in the improvement of the favorability, strength and the unique component of the existing associations.

According to Zarantonello and Schmitt (2013), the organizing of cultural events are indispensable tools that are used for promoting the brand well. The hosting of  major events such as World Expo, Trade Fair and Olympic Game can go a long way in the enhancing the brand identity. They can be useful in the creation of positive brand image and position the brand well in the minds of the people (Zarantonello and Schmitt 2013). The global consumer culture has also major impact on the brand associations of the company. The consumer culture also impacts the way the brand is perceived by its valuable customers.

The global companies are increasingly finding new ways to breaking through the glance of the media. As opined by Bail (2014), the event marketing has gained enormous popularity in the past few years and this has become one of the most powerful tools to gain brand value. Sponsorships are an effective tool in utilizing secondary brand associations (Bae 2017). It helps in the identification of the target market as far as lifestyles and demographics are concerned (Bail 2014). This is also one of the most powerful ways to find new audience and retain the existing ones. This medium has become one of the important components of corporate marketing and the companies are keeping aside their marketing budget for this purpose.

Customer Satisfaction

Saeidi et al. (2015) defined customer satisfaction as the measurement of the products or services which are supplied by a company in order to meet the expectations of the customers. The aspect of the customer satisfaction is important since it is the foundation for increasing the customer base by bringing in new customers and retaining the existing ones (Saeidi et al. 2015). Brand loyalty has mutual dependence on customer satisfaction and perceived quality influence the satisfaction level of the consumers (Saeidi et al. 2015). The celebrity endorsements lead to improving the satisfaction level of the customers.

As opined by Oliver (2014), Kano model is concerned with the product development and the phenomenon of customer satisfaction, which categorizes customer preferences into five quality segments such as- must be, indifferent, attractive, reverse and one-dimensional. The “must be” attribute emphasizes on the requirements that the customers expect from the brand (Oliver 2014). The “one-dimensional” is concerned with the fact that these kinds of activities are directly proportional to the satisfaction level of the customers (Oliver 2014). The “indifferent” attribute is concerned with the fact the client is often “indifferent” to the exact features of the product (Oliver 2014). The “reverse” attribute is concerned with the feature that causes dissatisfaction among the customers (Oliver 2014). This model emphasizes on the fact that there are three types of requirements of the customers such as satisfaction of the basic needs, performance needs and the excitement needs.

Brand Association- Part of CSR activities

Chernev and Blair (2015) agree that an increasing number of companies are focusing on the corporate social responsibility which aims to increase the investment, corporate image, corporate branding, sales and others. Employers who are more responsible for the society, employees and products are perceived as better brands by the customers (Chernev and Blair 2015). The social work of the organizations which include working for the underprivileged, child education, protection of girls from harassment and others are considered as noble work. These initiatives by the organizations make their brand popular among the masses and they can easily relate to them (Chernev and Blair 2015).

Brand awareness

Abrahams (2016) opined that the brand awareness is concerned with the probability that the existing as well as new customers are accustomed with the details of the product. There are two types of brand awareness namely brand recognition and brand recall. The ability of the consumers to identify the name of a particular brand on being shown the various attributes of the brand can be termed as brand recognition. It is one of the most differentiating factors that allow the brand to make its own individual presence in the minds of the customers. Percy Elliott and Rosenbaum-Elliott (2016) argued that the brand recall can be considered as potential of the customers to retrieve the name of the brand from his memory when bombarded with category or class of the products (Percy Elliott and Rosenbaum-Elliott 2016). There are several attributes of the brand awareness such as the brand should be easy to pronounce, known, spell and expressive so that the brand is easy to remember for the customers (Percy Elliott and Rosenbaum-Elliott 2016).

Based on the above analysis, an author’s model has been created based on the critical analysis of the above literature. The factors such as celebrity endorsements, brand equity, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty leads to more brand association (Percy Elliott and Rosenbaum-Elliott 2016). A well-known person in the company’s advertisements enhances the prospective sales of the company. This makes the customers associate with the brand in a close manner (Huang and Sarigöllü 2014). This would make the brand a premium one in the minds of the customers and they would try to engage more with the brand (Huang and Sarigöllü 2014). If the company responds to the needs of the customers, then they would stick to the organization for longer time frame. These analytics are determined by the proposed 2CB model of brand association, as illustrated below.

Case Study on brand association

The instances of brand associations can be widely seen in the corporate world. In this section, the brand awareness of Coca Cola and Red Bull would be performed. In Coca Cola, the brand association is considered as an effective tool and this brand is considered as one of the best global brands (Hansen 2016). The brand uses variety of advertisements and slogans to attract the audience. The different slogans like “Life begins here” and “Open happiness” have the capability to attract the masses by promising them a better life if they use this brand (Hansen 2016). Instead of focusing on the actual beverage, the brand tries to catch the sentiments of the people. The brand is successful in integrating itself with the happiest moments of the lives of their precious customers. The signature “red cups” of the company make the brand familiar among the masses. This is the way the company engages in successful brand associations (Hansen 2016).

In Red Bull, the idea of the brand is to sell the “idea” of energy and not merely sell energy drinks to the audience (Singh Kalafatis and Ledden 2014). The brand focuses on storytelling, which would attract the viewers, readers and the listeners (Singh Kalafatis and Ledden 2014). The brand is famous for memorable advertisements such as “Felix Baumgartner jump” from the space, which represented their values of pushing to the limits (Singh Kalafatis and Ledden 2014). This advertisement focused on four aspects of branding such as everyman theme, subtle branding, engagement of the audience and high quality of production. The brand has also created a full feature film with “snowboarding”, with negligible product placement.

Recommendations

The companies should engage in greater brand awareness by conducting various interactive sessions and giving promotional offers to the customers. It is important to increase the appeal of the products so that they can attract a wide range of audience. It is important to incorporate USP of the products so that they can avail the competitive advantage in a market, which is primarily driven by large number of companies. It is important to train the branding and product managers who would propagate the offerings of the company among the masses.

The case studies of Coca Cola and RedBull emphasized on the fact that though Coca Cola engages in celebrity endorsements, however, Red Bull lacks in this aspect. There should be more involvement of the celebrities in making the consumers aware of the brand. There should be greater focus on social media marketing as this is a new trend which is grabbing the young and old generation at a fast rate.

Conclusion

Brand association is one of the prime responsibilities of a firm as it leads to greater customer acceptance and greater value of the brand. This report discussed important aspects of the brand associations, which started with mind map of the key themes. It had performed an in-depth discussion of important concepts such as brand loyalty, brand equity, celebrity endorsements and customer Satisfaction. It had a brief discussion on how brand association is fostered by corporate social responsibility. In the concluding part, two case studies analysis has been done. The two companies are Coca Cola and Red Bull. These real-life examples of brand association would help in better understanding of the subject.

References

Abrahams, D., 2016. Brand risk: adding risk literacy to brand management. CRC Press.

Bae, M., 2017. Matching cause-related marketing campaign to culture. Asian Journal of Communication, pp.1-18.

Bail, C.A., 2014. The cultural environment: Measuring culture with big data. Theory and Society, 43(3-4), pp.465-482.

Batey, M., 2015. Brand Meaning: Meaning, Myth and Mystique in Today's Brands. Routledge.

Buil, I., De Chernatony, L. and Martínez, E., 2013. Examining the role of advertising and sales promotions in brand equity creation. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), pp.115-122.

Chernev, A. and Blair, S., 2015. Doing well by doing good: The benevolent halo of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(6), pp.1412-1425.

Christensen, C., 2013. The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Harvard Business Review Press.

Hansen, J.T., 2016. Constructing a Product Brand Identity: The Case of Coca-Cola.

Hilbig, B.E., 2014. On the role of recognition in consumer choice: A model comparison. Judgment and Decision Making, 9(1), p.51.

Hollebeek, L.D., Glynn, M.S. and Brodie, R.J., 2014. Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of interactive marketing, 28(2), pp.149-165.

Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer New York.

Kim, K., Park, J. and Kim, J., 2014. Consumer–brand relationship quality: When and how it helps brand extensions. Journal of Business Research, 67(4), pp.591-597.

Lam, S.Y. and Shankar, V., 2014. Asymmetries in the effects of drivers of brand loyalty between early and late adopters and across technology generations. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(1), pp.26-42.

Lehmann, D.R. and Srinivasan, S., 2014. Assessing brand equity through add-on sales. Customer Needs and Solutions, 1(1), pp.68-76.

Mizik, N., 2014. Assessing the total financial performance impact of brand equity with limited time-series data. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(6), pp.691-706.

Oliver, R.L., 2014. Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer. Routledge.

Percy, L., Elliott, R.H. and Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., 2016. Strategic advertising management. Oxford University Press.

Plewa, C., Plewa, C., Carrillat, F.A., Carrillat, F.A., Mazodier, M., Mazodier, M., Quester, P.G. and Quester, P.G., 2016. Which sport sponsorships most impact sponsor CSR image?. European Journal of Marketing, 50(5/6), pp.796-815.

Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P. and Saaeidi, S.A., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.341-350.

Singh, J., P. Kalafatis, S. and Ledden, L., 2014. Consumer perceptions of cobrands: The role of brand positioning strategies. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(2), pp.145-159.

Zarantonello, L. and Schmitt, B.H., 2013. The impact of event marketing on brand equity: The mediating roles of brand experience and brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 32(2), pp.255-280.